Hawk eagle Update

In December 2016, the animal care team at Ensessakotteh, Born Free’s Wildlife Rescue, Conservation and Education Center in Ethiopia, released our hawk eagle after 18 months of rehabilitation and flight training.

With every release there are always risks and the wild can be a difficult place for animals to rediscover their niche. However, we were pleased to receive a report last month confirming that the hawk eagle continues to make appearances at Ensessakotteh:

“At first it was daily, then weekly, now we’re seeing him about monthly. He looks healthy, has a great body condition and is flying and hunting well. This last sighting, he was seen in the company of a juvenile auger buzzard who has been hanging around the center for about a month. Initially the team was keeping an eye on the juvenile buzzard because his body condition was so poor. He was extremely thin, his keel was visible and he proved to be an inept hunter. On one occasion he was seen diving and carrying something off into the trees, the staff was happy to see him finally hunt successfully, but his “prey” turned out to be an onion…. Whether our hawk eagle helped him learn to hunt or whether they’re just hunting the same territory is unknown, but they were both seen hunting mice successfully this week and flying and perching close to one another”.